Colin's posts

At that moment, Gabriel could feel it. He could sense it. Erica was... broken. Vanessa had broken her. For now, anyway. She was not the woman that he knew she was. Because of what Vanessa did, it seemed like their relationship was... in dire straits. At the very least, there was a rocky road ahead of them. And the crushing despair he felt inside his heart was causing some very old feelings to resurface. But they were buried under seething, roiling rage.

He still had enough wherewithal to send for help, though. Whether or not the two of them could go back to what they had didn't matter now. What mattered was that she needed medical help. He took out his cell phone and called the one person nobody thought he would call; Zeke.

"You. Get to Erica's house NOW." he ordered, his tone promising trouble if Zeke wasn't there within the next few seconds. Thankfully, he was. He appeared just inside, and raced over towards where they were, halting abruptly when he saw Erica.

"What the...!?" he exclaimed, as Gabriel looked at him sharply.

"She needs medical attention. Take her to The Unit's medical wing, and let it be known that ANY Erica that ANYONE sees, that ISN'T this one, is an imposter." the archangel told the nephilim.

"An... imposter...?" Zeke asked, unnerved, which didn't seem to help Gabriel's attitude.

"You're not getting her medical attention. Why." he stated, almost darkly, to which Zeke responded by rushing up to Erica.

"Hey, I'm here Erica. It'll be all right." he assured her, kneeling down to her level, as Gabriel started to think about the imposter that was working with Vanessa... who had caused such pain.

@totalanimefan: mulled wine can be so divine when it's done right.

I love cider, too!

That word. That one word that she had said.

'Mistress'. To hear Erica refer to Vanessa Encrae as 'Mistress' caused a massive rage to boil up from within him. Seeing her like this... pleading that he didn't help her because of Vanessa... it caused such fury deep within him.

His eyes filled with anger, and his teeth gnashed together, as he looked off to the side.

"...she is not your 'Mistress'..." he told her.

"And I will do anything and everything for you, Erica." he said further.

"I love you."

Gabriel looked... angry now.

He was angry that he'd been tricked. Deceived. Fooled. And Erica had been hurting all this time.

"And I'll make sure he tells me everything." he growled.

"I need to send you somewhere you can get medical treatment." he then told her.

"And so this faker won't try and hurt you."

"Erica, save your strength." Gabriel responded.

"What's happened?" he asked her.

"In my heart and soul, I know that you're you." he then said. "But... but what about the OTHER you?" he asked further.

"She has your mana, your soul..." he continued.

"This shouldn't be possible..." he went on, clearing confused and distressed.

Gabe almost fell back when he felt the rush of emotions, and then the bit of pain.

"...oh... oh my God..." he said quietly.

"Oh my God!" he exclaimed.

"Erica!" he said, before laying his hands on her and starting to pulse some mana into her.

She needed healing. Bad.

And if nothing else, he could give her some emergency healing right now.

He watched her go, and shook his head.

"This place is something else." he said. "Almost as nuts as The Unit, and that's saying something." he muttered.

He then shook his head and headed off. He had work to do, calls to make.

---

She was there for about 15 seconds, before Gabe rushed into the room.

"...what the hell!?" he exclaimed, racing towards her.

"Erica!? Is that you!?" he asked.

"Wait... wait, weren't you....? Just...?" he then muttered, obviously confused.

"The hell's going on here?"

"Alchemy, huh?" Ty mumbled.

"Well, we have Kiah, and Aedan, and Robyn for that." he said. "And Ilias as well." he continued. "Moreso Aedan than any of the others, admittedly. And her son, Cain." he added.

"I guess we can try and get ahold of them, see if we can't get that mana print off of Sebastien or Cameron." he said further, thinking about it some more.

"At this point, we need to try all we can." he reasoned. "We can't afford to ignore ANY sort of path that might be opening for us on this." he went on, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'd love to try and get more information out of her, but... I think she did VERY well to get THAT much out." he mumbled.

"But it's something. It's a damn bread crumb, at least."

"...she did!?" Ty asked, some light in his eyes.

"She did." Vae confirmed. "Not much... maybe an hour or two... but it was some." she said.

"That does my heart good to hear." Ty responded quietly, exhaling in relief.

"Also... seems she gave us a clue about what's happening." he then revealed.

"Oh?" Vae asked.

Ty then proceeded to tell her what Hazel had said... the little there was. But it was SOMETHING. It was more than they had before.

"It's not much, but we know this is transmitted by touch. Or... hand-touch, I guess." he finished.

@totalanimefan: That's fair. Do you have a fave holiday drink, then?

"I know you did." Ty responded.

"Still... it hurts to see her regressed to this." he muttered. "But yes, there IS progress, and given how she was essentially forced to relive the existence she left behind, that is a miracle, in and of itself." he reasoned.

"And I'm... fine..." he mumbled.

"Hate seeing her like this, hurts me every time I ask something of her, and she takes it as an order." he went on.

"I want to slam my fist into Sebastien's jaw SO badly." he then growled. "...but I'd be hurting a victim of this, as well." he lamented.

"This is just... such a shit situation."

Ty gritted his teeth as he saw this. Seeing Hazel this way, acting like she was, being the way she used to be... and knowing that Sebastien was... technically responsible for it, but at the same time, not... ate at him inside.

Sebastien was a fine target for his aggression, his anger... but that wouldn't be right. He was just a pawn as well. A tool that someone else was using. It wouldn't be right to be mad at HIM.

And yet... knowing that Sebastien would probably trigger a relapse if she ever came into contact with him again, made him SO angry.

But there was nothing he could do.

He wanted to tell her not to eat, because he hated that she was taking his plea as an order, but he wasn't about to tell her NOT to eat.

"...I'm sorry..." he apologised softly, before turning and walking away from her, stopping at the door and looking back. "I believe in you, Hazel. You can come back from this. You're already doing so well." he told her further, though it was mostly him talking to himself at this point.

Or he would have been, had Vae not been walking by at the time. He looked over towards her, and sighed.

"I guess I should be happy that ANY progress is happening." he admitted to her.

Ty witnessed her, taking in her form and demeanour, before sighing silently.

"Hazel." he said.

"I promise I will always be here to help you." he told her, moving the small table over towards her.

"Try and eat a little something. It's bottled water and some Fårikål." he told her, before pausing. "Er... mutton stew." he clarified, in case she didn't know. "Pretty sure I butchered that pronunciation, too." he admitted with a light laugh.

"Anyway, please try and have a little." he went on.

"I need to tell the others about this new info."

@totalanimefan: ...huh. I knew it was a seasonal thing, didn't know it was a regional thing...